Africa Should Adopt Digital Technologies To Create More Jobs

Day Two of the Transform Africa Summit kicks off with another set of discussions and side events.

Opening the day is a discussion on “Peer learning and collaboration are key to building a vibrant digital economy in Africa.”

The panel includes Kay McGowan a Chief Advocacy Officer for Future State then representatives from Smart Africa, The Rockefeller Foundation, World Bank Africa, Bank of Kigali, and representative of Rwanda Women in Technology.

The summit being held at the magnificent Kigali convention Centre is themed “Boosting Africa’s Digital Economy”.

In advancing the concept of peer learning and collaboration to build a vibrant African digital economy, discussants are exchanging interesting views;

For example Ali Parsa the founder of Babylon based in Turkey says “Instead of waiting for all countries to come together, as entrepreneurs, we should work with those whose governments are ready. Rwanda is a great example of that, and we can see it.”

Unlocking the African digital economy may have its challenges but there are interesting versions from discussants on how bottle necks can be removed.

Abdou Kane argues that local companies understand their countries better than anyone else. For instance, “we recently saw a local company in Asia acquiring the operations of Uber in East Asia.”

He suggests that African governments should also understand this and open up for their own people.

The African continent can optimise digital technologies and digital economy to drive job creation and transform their communities.

Blockchain which is being views with skepticism could actually stimulate Africa’s drive to a digitised economy. For example some countries like Sierra Leone are using Blockchain for land registry.

“Blockchain is the most secured technology so far. Some of us have already started its adoption,” Hisham Ezz Alarab the Chairman CIB in Egypt says.

Digital economy is expected to enable the continent to create more jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities for its bulging youth, who are estimated at over 50 per cent of the population.